Rock Carnival @ First Energy Park, Lakewood, NY 9-30-16 – 10-2-16

Rock Carnival 2016 brought lots of new things and unfortunately, also brought lots or rain for the attendees. This year the festival was moved from Oak Ridge Park in Clark, NJ to the First Energy Ballpark in Lakewood, NJ. I love what the festival/promoter were trying to do by booking various types of acts like Daughtry and Overkill (who were directly booked to follow Daughtry). There were different types of bands to serve various types of tastes and age ranges. The wildcard in all of this which you cannot plan for was the rain. Again, the thundering gods were not kind as they consistently dumped on the festival all weekend until well after 6pm on Sunday night. I’m sure this hurt the festival attendance numbers (especially any chance for a good walk up.)

The festival was built around bands like Twisted Sister (making their last NY/NJ area appearance). People traveled from all around to see them. The other headlining bands were Alice Cooper on Friday and Halestorm on Sunday. Also, the festival was known and billed as a food truck carnival and there were many different offerings of food and rides for the kids. So there were lots of different things to do outside of music and they even had some pro wrestling and pig racing if you wanted to stretch outside of the normality of watching a band perform.

Let’s get back to the music and start with the opening day of Friday. Due to the severe weather that happened, (the worst of the 3 days), all the bands didn’t perform except Blue Oyster Cult, Clutch and Alice Cooper. B.O.C. only played 8 songs but warmed up the crowd with its most infamous tunes like “Don’t Fear the Reaper” and “Burnin’ for You.”

Clutch, who reviewed at their previous show in Buffalo 2 days prior (here) so we won’t dive into their set and skip to Alice Cooper. I always say to anyone who asks about an Alice Cooper show, I equate to a certain analogy. There are certain things in life, death, taxes and Alice Cooper always putting on a solid show. The show in Lakewood was no different. Cooper dived more into obscurity with songs like “Guilty” and “The World Needs Guts” which the latter hasn’t been performed in 30 years. Coopers wife Sheryl has been playing the evil nurse for the last handful of years and gave a great performance. Cooper ended the set with what else, “Elected” with both someone playing the part of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. It made for some fun during this sad election we are facing.

Saturday brought a little less rain and wind so all the bands were out to perform. Big Dad Ritch of Texas Hippie Coalition made everyone know that if he had to be up early, then everyone else has to be up too. THC brought their loud and Texas style of metal to the appreciative crowd during their 40 minute set. Former Angel guitarist Punky Meadows made rare appearance and delivered the goods. His short but entertaining set consisted of new material “Loaded Gun,” “The Price You Pay” and “Straight Shooter” along with a few Angel classics. It will be interesting to see if Meadows will be doing any future touring in support of the new release “Fallen Angel.” Ace Frehley gave a fantastic set of KISS classics and the Thin Lizzy song “Emerald” which was featured on his latest release Origins Volume 1. Frehley’s band which included Scot Coogan on drums, Chris Wyse on bass and longtime friend and member Richie Scarlett on rhythm guitar. This band fires on all cylinders and are a must see on their current run. Let’s get right to the main act for the entire weekend, which was New York’s own Twisted Sister. This show (as I previously stated) was there last area appearance so that in itself made it a huge event. The band now includes Mike Portnoy on drums due to the passing of original drummer A.J. Pero in May of 2015. This performance for me came full circle for me as I was able to witness their first show back together at the NY Steel show back in late November 2001 in New York City. Vocalist Dee Snider and the entire band really gave their all for this show. They seemed like they didn’t want it to end. They had many friends and family on stage (maybe over a 100) including Phil Carson who originally signed them to Atlantic Records, longtime agent and tour manager Dan Stanton and the daughter of AJ. Pero (who they dedicated “The Price” too. Didn’t seem to be a dry in the house. They had everyone singing the last song ”SM.F” even though they joked about how inappropriate it maybe for the young ones. Again, if this was the last time I see them, I can’t complain as the band went out in top form!

Sunday brought out comic and now rock and roll front man Jim Breuer to the headlining stage as he is currently on tour in support of his first rock record release called “Songs from the Garage.” Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale joined him on stage for a rendition of AC/DC’s “Shoot to Thrill.” Hale also joined Tom Keifer to do “Nobody’s Fool.” Overkill still can bring it with the best of them as vocalist Bobby Blitz still sounds like he just recorded their first album, 1985’s “Feel the Fire” yesterday. Eddy Garcia filled in for drummer Ron Lipnicki and the guys didn’t miss a beat. The Used had a good size crowd and even though they said they may feel a little bit out of place, the proceeded to give a high energy set for their young and appreciative fan base. Doro provided (in my opinion) the highlight of the weekends performances. She has been one of the most energetic front woman in music and she closed the Birch Hill Stage. She rocked out on “Burning the Witches” “All We Are” and the Judas Priest cover “Breaking the Law.” She even went out into the pit on one of the photographers shoulders so she can get closer to her fans and sing along with them. That was classic Doro, always wanting to get closer to her fans. Closing the weekend out was Grammy award winning Halestrom. The band just exited the studio to do some dates and it didn’t appear they had any rust. Vocalist Lzzy Hale made that apparent as she held a note before even singing a song then by saying hello to the crowd. The band cranked through their 1 hour and 15 minute set with a plethora of tunes. Drummer Arejay Hale who is always the showman gave a eye catching drum solo and stood on his kit at times. I’m curious to see what the band will have up their sleeve for their next release.

All in all I loved the lineup but the way the times that were set up for the Birch stage made it difficult to check out most of the acts. The attendance numbers didn’t look strong for the weekend (I’m sure The weather was also a unforeseen factor and cause of this.) I’m not sure what the future will hold but hope the promoter and the festival can regroup and come back stronger for the fans who wish to come back from 2017.

Alice Cooper setlist:

The Black Widow

No More Mr. Nice Guy

Under my Wheels

Public Animal No #9

Billion Dollar Babies

Long Way to Go

Is it my Body

The World Needs Guts

Woman of Mass Distraction

Guitar solo (Nita Strauss)

Poison